Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - Sleeping under Trees of Time (Premium)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi, Thomas here. You're listening to a preview episode. You can enjoy the entire story tonight by subscribing to our supporters' feed. There you'll get access to the entire back catalogue, bonus episodes, and more, and it's all completely ad-free. Click the link below to learn more. And thank you so so much. Me and the team really appreciate your support. A car engine rumbles softly. It bumps gently but rhythmically over the nearly empty interstate as you pass through Owen's Valley, a fertile but mostly dry part of eastern California. Stretching over 75 miles, the valley divides two mountain ranges, the Sierra Nevada's and the White Mountains.

Starting point is 00:01:11 Both mountain ranges loom about two miles into the sky on either side of you. To the west, the Sierra Nevada's are jagged and sharp. Dense green pines grow across their ridges. Their tan, granite spires claw at the sky. The softer outline of the white mountains dominates your view to the east. The lower slopes are dotted with hardy sagebrush adapted to the dry, arid soil. As you look higher, you see stands of mountain mahogany. The often in sun warms the air in its Valley, the skies clear and dark blue. The searing of our dammantins tend to trap any clouds that drift in from the coast, but

Starting point is 00:02:15 what water does trickle down this side of their peaks, elets in the Owens River. You drive across the river when you're way to the white mountains, leaving behind the green grasses on the river bank. Minute by minute, the land becomes drier, the farther you go from the river. The road then starts to climb in a luvial fan, which looks like a giant pod sand out of an hourglass. These astonishing geological features are created when water transports large amounts of sediment that settle to the ground along the way.

Starting point is 00:03:06 The rich nutrients brought here have led to a small forest of sage, the fresh scent wafts through the windows of your car. Protected by the searing of order mountains, the landscape here is rather slow to change. It's more like a century glass, rather than an hour glass, marking time on longer scales. The road winds back and forth across the rising slopes, steadily climbing up and up. You notice changes in the plant life, like the first thin stands of Pignon pines. Their gnarly roots help to hold the hillside together. They can't stop the wear and tear of time, but they help to shape the mountain, at least for a while. As you leave the valley behind, the air cools off.

Starting point is 00:04:13 It's the kind of air that makes your skin prickle and hair stand on end when you first feel it. But then your body adhts and your lungs feel refreshed. The road turns north and gains altitude faster. The landscape opens up again and you can see old mining roads criss-crossing the hills. They once were bustling with activity. Now, they are just two ruts in the dirt. A few horses from the mining era still enjoy a wild and free life in these high fields. These are the last remnants of the famous California Gold Rush.

Starting point is 00:05:07 Rentges still bring cattle up from time to time, and you might see them. If you're lucky, you'll see big horn sheep or mule deer, ambling at the edges of the open spaces, ready to dart back among the trees for the first sign of humanity. Now, the red takes you alongside the Methuselagrove, which is home to the world's oldest known tree, a bristlecone pine. you

Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - Sleeping under Trees of Time (Premium)

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